Hebrew 12:14-17
Make Every Effort to Live in Peace With Everyone
14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.
With a modern society comes modernization and technology...With technology quick advances this can be good or it can be bad...With the internet and social media taking a strong foothold in many cultures and societies, the have become a society and way of life all their own...The social media companies have made it easier for people to find something or someone they feel comfortable with their own shared views...When you interact only with people of your own views this can exacerbate divisions....There is no holiness for the one who only shares one or a few views...
Scripture teaches us about loving our neighbors and those who are different...We are not to mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt...We shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, seeing you were aliens in the land of Egypt...When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him...The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yours...The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come...You and the foreigner shall be the same before the LORD...The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you...Therefore love the foreigner; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt...
The wealth gap has further divided us, as the wealthy get wealthier and the poor get poorer...There has been a spread of misinformation, falsehood, lies, and disinformation...This divides us...There has been a decline of trust in traditional institutions, and this divides us...More and more today people are becoming divided along political lines...The very political parties are even dividing commerce and stores, making it difficult to find common ground and compromise...They want people to buy the products they buy and shop the stores they shop...Does it matter to you what your neighbor eats and drinks, when Jesus teaches us to not only love our neighbor -but also to love our enemies...All these things further divide us...
Scripture tells us we should try to live in peace with everyone...We should try to keep our lives free from sin...Anyone whose life is not holy will never see the LORD...Be careful that no one fails to get God’s grace...Be careful that no one loses their faith and becomes like a bitter weed growing among others...Someone like that can ruin the whole group...Be careful that no one commits sexual sin...And be careful that no one is like Esau and never thinks about God...As the oldest son, Esau would have inherited everything from his father...But he sold all that for a single meal to his twin brother Jacob...You remember that after Esau did this, he wanted to get his father’s blessing...He wanted that blessing so much that he cried...
We have to ask ourselves are we making every effort to live in peace with everyone...Without holiness no one will see the LORD...Let the Grace of God lead us, and let us keep the bitterness out of our relationships...For as Jesus teaches us to do not judge others, and we will not be judged...Do not condemn others, and we will not be condemned...Forgive others, and we will be forgiven...Give, and it will be given to you...A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap...For with the measure we use, will be measured to us...